Published in Water: Special Issue Water Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, and Sustainable Water Resources Management
Abstract: Water resource governance, much like the systems it endeavors to manage, must be
resilient and adaptive. Effective, resilient and adaptive water resource governance requires continuing
stakeholder engagement to address the complex nature of human and natural systems. Engagement
is an adaptive and iterative process of education and empowerment, building relationships and trust,
and facilitating collaboration. Collaborative modeling is a methodology that integrates diverse
stakeholder perspectives, fosters discussions, and creates space for problem identification and
consensus-based strategies and solutions to current water resource challenges. We define collaborative
modeling broadly, such that it includes a wide range of systems thinking exercises, as well as dynamic
models. By focusing on the relationships and interconnections in the system, collaborative modeling
facilitates clarification of mental models and the communication of science. We will describe our
work in two interstate basins and how it has evolved over time as these basins strive
For full text: